A slow week

Well, it was a slow time for us, but others were busy.

Sept 1, 2017

On my birthday, I mentioned my activities, but we did not yet have the photos back from John’s trip that day. I will share a few with you.Pacific Lutheran University crew on the trail. The Cross Country and Track Team (“The Lutes”) – colors black & gold – in the bright shirts. Way back on the upper left – that’s John. [Bright yellow in front is named Aidan – means fire in Gaelic – but John did not get to visit with her or most of them – it was a big group and they kept busy.]Left image: Big rock, lots of people. Hannah had them pose when they got it to where it would be used. When where needed, they get tucked in bed – a trench on the inside of the trail. Right photo. John wasn’t part of the carry crew on this one, so he did the tucking.

Finally, the last photo of my birthday:This is the Norse Peak Fire smoke viewed to the east from the Fremont Lookout Tower at Mt. Rainier, at the end of the trail. All the photos above were taken by Hannah Tennent, the Blue Hat (WTA Crew Leader) at Mt. Rainier this summer.

Mid week following, the Park on the east side was closed as a precaution. Folks were advised to leave and Park Rangers were alerting hikers and climbers to exit on other trails, if they could. Trail work for WTA was scheduled through October 1. Park folks will reevaluate each week. 9 work trips remaining, or not!

John started our morning appetizer with a bowl of pear pieces.
Brunch: Sausage, piece of omelet of little tomatoes and many mushrooms, served with strawberries.
Supper: steak, onions, corn-on-the-cob, dessert strawberries.

I stopped at Bi-Mart on the way to town for Moisture Tears, Brush picks, and to check my numbers.
Snack: 1/2 banana, mixed nuts.

Funercise class today with only 3 of us, the teacher and a new AmeriCorps staff member, Nicole Jones (from Shelton, WA), and my friend from S. Cle Elum, Evelyn Heflen, and me. We had a decent vigorous workout.

Started by picking up Gloria, and going to Safeway Pharmacy with her to pick up her meds needed to take one pill after lunch.
On to the Food Bank, unloaded violin, Gloria, and music bag.
Visited and then played music for 1/2 hour.

Lunch: slices of yam, leftover steak, onions, mushrooms, bunch of cantaloupe pieces (I took), and had a little light green salad from the Food Bank lunch, while visiting with the singers/players after.

Then we left to drop off plums at Carole’s house on the way to the AAC, where I carried in a 5-gallon bucket of flowers and my violin to keep it out of the heat. We stayed for SAIL exercise class. Drove by a friend’s house to drop off a couple N-95 face masks for the smoke. On home, but first to fill up my car with gasoline, drop off Gloria, and then get my stuff in the house.

Worked a little on music for Oct/Nov for the KV Fiddlers & Friends. Wanted to go to bed early, but it did not happen. Sent out 4 jobs on our Google Groups NW Geography Jobs (list serve). Checked out the stats on fires in OR and WA. Did get some protective N-95 masks today (free, thanks to the Public Health Dept.).

Sad to report this fire, started by teens with fireworks (seen and caught). This is being called Eagle Creek fire (Oregon). Below are before and after photos looking from Washington across the Columbia Gorge.This fire closed I-84 and is threatening Multnomah Falls Park, Lodge, and facilities. The rock in both photos is Sentinel Rock, or Phoca Rock, as originally named by Lewis & Clark. Follow this link for more details:Phoca Rock

This afternoon John took some photos of 17 Merriam turkeys in our drive! That is the most we have seen this year. I’m glad he took the photos, because I wasn’t home to see them.

MERRIAM TURKEYS3-pix collage to show the 17 turkeys. Top shows all 17 and a flowerbed (dahlias & gladioli). Middle: can’t decide who is leading nor which way to go. Bottom shows them deciding on south, and away they went.

I went for my weigh in and measurements taken by my friend at the gym. She calculated my weight is down another 4#, inches another 5″, and body fat is still 42%. Total wt. loss is 14# and measurements are down 22″! (since 6/26/17). My clothes are showing it.

On to Rehab, where we played music for a number of happy people.

Dinner: salad of Iceberg lettuce, with smoked turkey**, small grape like tomatoes John grew, cauliflower, orange pepper, and pistachios, with a bit of bleu cheese dressing.
**A local grocery does smoked meats. This was a leg that required a bit of fuss at home (thanks, John for your efforts), making small salad sized pieces and getting rid of all the non-usable parts.

Still need to send my numbers and a couple questions to Audra and get her my food intake report so she can review it.

Sadly, our trip to the annual Chef’s Extravaganza, at White Heron, was cancelled just this afternoon (4:30 p.m.), because of the smoke from the Jolly Mt Fire. Cameron explained their cook of the evening cancelled after spending the weekend at Spokane in smoke, and not wanting a replay, especially after finding out the forecast was for the Cle Elum fire plume of smoke to be aimed right at the vineyard, and not wishing to subject the singer to the smoke either. I was truly looking forward to seeing in person a banjo/harmonica playing singer (whom you can see on line on his website):Forest Beutel

Check out some of his videos there. We were going to meet friends from Seattle there, who are into Bluegrass and Rock music, and meet my banjo-playing friend from Ellensburg and his wife. We hope there will be a future opportunity, but probably not at the same location any time this year. That smoke is going to plague us for many more weeks.

Dinner: salad of Iceberg lettuce, with smoked turkey, small grape-like tomatoes John grew, cauliflower, pistachios, with a bit of bleu cheese dressing and a very few Cheez-it® for croutons.

John left at 6:30 a.m. for WTA work at Talapus Lake, on I-90, replacing (sadly) his Saturday trip to Mt. Rainier. Talapus is a much shorter drive, but work was in a forest with no views. Two miles up trail there are views but the crew only went ½ mile.
I slept in another ~2 hrs., fed two cats, and started on chores.

I changed Consumer Cellular emails for billing and info, from our one email we have had since 1995 to the new one. That’s turning into a tedious project.

Worked on processing the photos I took 8/12 at the Lundy’s 50th. She told me after receiving them it was a wonderful memory and they were the only ones she had seen taken there. I surely hope others send some to them. In mine I tried to capture members of their wedding party, some who had come from many states away (CA, MN, and I didn’t get them all, nor all the guests there).

Brunch: piece omelet, sausage, cantaloupe, small part of toast with Marionberry jam.

Afternoon snack: mixed nuts and yellow plums
Dinner: Petite sirloin steak cooked with our onions & tomatoes in a Crockpot all day. John put them in before leaving this morning.

John’s been outside. Fed the horses, cut a few weeds, picked strawberries, grape-sized tomatoes, and 2 ears of corn. I’ve been inside watching the hurricane reports. John came, worked on his computer awhile, and we shared info of the expected hits to Florida. Irma was bad but not as serious as was expected a few days ago.

A British news service went bonkers, calling Irma the “most deadly storm in history,” that to the time of their story had killed 10 people. Because some storms have killed multiple thousands, the question became what the writers at ‘The Telegraph’ were drinking or smoking. The serious results in Florida are just now appearing, so will leave this sad story.

Afternoon snack: small salad of Iceberg lettuce, with smoked turkey, small tomatoes, cauliflower, with a bit of bleu cheese dressing and a few Cheez-it®.

Might as well end with an air quality chart after being subjected for a couple of weeks to a smoke-filled valley, and having various of our normal activities cancelled. That’s why it as a slow week for us.Thank goodness for a/c in our house and cars and for protection masks while out when it’s the worst. Just having them on hand is a relief, even if we don’t have to use them.